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Goal/Milestone

As the Human Genome Project has progressed, the profoundness of the gene has gradually been revealed. Since the turn of the century, many findings have been reported shaking the foundation of traditionally accepted ideas. Specifically, it is now believed that RNA is more vitally important to life than was previously thought. Most of these findings did not exist at the time this project commenced. This project focused on the functional expression profiling of RNA within the cell, or transcriptome analysis, to develop a biomolecule detection reagent (RNA probe) that enables transcript analysis. The milestone was to improve the performance of the RNA probe to a level contributing to the elucidation of pathogenic mechanisms and the development of therapeutic agents, analyzing RNA that is believed to be involved in specific diseases. To achieve the milestone this project basically aimed to establish a homogenous fluorescence assay method. Its individual themes were:
(1) development of high-sensitivity genetic diagnosis probe;
(2) construction of an RNA bioimaging system;
(3) development of high-order RNA structure analysis software;
(4) development of high-order RNA structure analysis probe;
(5) development of a CMOS biologic reaction analysis chip;
(6) development of RNA probe for disease-related SNP analysis;
and (7) design, prototype development, and evaluation of a detection/TAS device. The project emphasized the establishment of a theory or principle, leaving the development of commercial technology to academia-industry joint research activities.